Love's Cookbook
by selphish
Summary: A series of drabbles woven into a story. Spoilers for One Piece up to chapter 398. Sanji x Robin
1. Prologue: Sacrifice

**Prologue.**  
_Sacrifice_

Somewhere in the back of their minds, they knew it.

That this day would come.

No one who manages to defy the World Government is allowed to live.

She had tried to sacrifice herself so the Straw Hats wouldn't have to live the life she did. But they had ignored her offer and made the choice to save her, knowing well the consequences. Even after Enies Lobby was destroyed and Robin rescued, when Luffy was offered a position as a Shichibukai, he had turned it down.

This was their fate.


	2. I: Rare

**I.**  
_Rare_

She was always quiet around the Straw Hat Pirates. She spoke only when necessary, and her words were always so carefully chosen. She never talked of personal matters, not of her past or of her feelings.

There was a reason for this, he knew. There was a reason why her heart was bound and locked so tightly that not even his words of love could penetrate its shield.

"A drink, for the lady," he said, and he bowed with a flourish, carefully setting the cup on the table in front of her.

"Thank you," she said, lips tugging into a painfully polite smile. She set the book aside, brought the drink to her lips, and appreciatively sampled the cool beverage Sanji had prepared.

"Is it to my lady's liking?"

"Very," she confirmed, and smiled pleasantly at the chef. Another sip, and it was put aside, in lieu of her book.

He leaned over, and bent his head, eyes scanning the cover of the book. "'Brag Men'?" he read aloud. He offered the woman a curious look as he pulled himself upright.

"A book I read as a child," she replied, and she turned a page. "I was never able to finish it."

"Why?"

Silence filled the air between the cook and the archaeologist, and Robin mentally stumbled for an answer.

She recovered and smiled again. "Because it was lost."

But somehow he knew that Robin had lost more than books as child. There was a deep, overwhelming sadness that pooled into her eyes, a weight on her shoulders that was too heavy for even him to bear.

He frowned.

She turned another page.

"Then," he began, pulling out a chair and taking a seat. "You weren't able to find another after it was lost?" He pushed the words forward effortlessly, an attempt to continue the conversation the woman would otherwise abandon.

"It's a very rare book," she stated calmly, eyes drawing themselves across the page. "I'm surprised you had it aboard this ship."

"There are rarer things," Sanji pulled a cigarette from his pocket and placed it in between lips. "...you'll find aboard this ship." He retrieved his lighter and lit the cylinder. He sighed, and smoke clouded the air between them.


	3. II: Melody

**II.**  
_Melody_

Sanji would sometimes hum while he cooked and Robin would listen, quietly paging through the contents of her latest read.

Today was no different. She read, and he hummed to the sizzling of hot grease in a frying pan. A familiar melody pressed through his pursed lips. For the first time that afternoon, she closed her book, shut her eyes, and simply _listened_.

The humming stopped, and the archaeologist felt Sanji's eyes on her face.

His words confirmed it: "Robin-cha--"

"'A Mast in a Mist'," she began, eyes still tightly shut. "A pirating song from North Blue." The ends of her lips tugged into a frown. "I haven't heard that song since I was a little girl." She looked up at Sanji, dark eyes filled with scholarly curiosity. "Were you from North Blue? Or did you simply hear that song elsewhere?"

"That's right." The burner was turned off and the spatula replaced. "I'm from North Blue. And you, Robin-chan?" He beamed broadly at the woman, hands clasped tightly together. "I'm sure that any place that Robin-chan came from would be truly magnificent!"

Amusement played across her face. "West. On the island of Ohara."

He frowned. Onboard the passenger ship, he had traveled as an apprentice chef through all four of the seas. But not once could he recall an island named Ohara. Not in West Blue, or in any other.

But he didn't say a word about it.


	4. III: Checkmate

**III.**  
_Checkmate_

He watched her play from his place in the kitchen, in small glimpses and glances while stirring soups or whipping soufflés.

Her large, darks eyes, would quietly muse over a board filled with kings and queens, rooks and bishops. Every move, she would finger several different pieces, mentally calculating all the possibilities with only a few jerks of the eye. A moment would pass, a piece would be chosen, and it would be moved to its next destination.

It happened in only a matter of seconds.

The first time he watched her play, he expected her technique to be very efficient. She was very straightforward and direct; she was not one to waste time dawdling.

But strangely, she did not take the most direct route. She did not sacrifice pawns for the sake of taking larger pieces, as others did. Even if the game was longer for it, she always won with the least amount of casualties possible.

"Check."

"Waaah! You're awesome, Robin!" Chopper grinned down at the board, clearly impressed with his opponent's tactics. The smile quickly turned into a frown, and he brought a solitary hoof to his chin in contemplation. "Mmmmm..."

Much to Sanji's surprise, Robin never watched the board during her opponent's play. Why did she avert her gaze? Was she afraid her eyes might give away a crucial play? Was she that afraid of losing them?

"Got it!" exclaimed Chopper, and he brought a piece closer to his own king.

Immediately, she moved her piece.

"Checkmate." He loved the way she smiled when she said the word.

She never smiled enough.


	5. Prologue II: Lips

**Prologue II. **  
_Lips_

Blood was crusted in her fingernails and in her hair. It still flowed from a cut in her face, and a wound in her chest.

The metallic taste of blood filled her mouth. A cough, and it spewed from her lips, painting a long line down her chin, and then fell to the earth below.

_Drip._

_Drip._

_Drip._

"Robin... chan." He brought a wavering hand to her lips, smearing the blood away with a dirty thumb.

He smiled down at her, callous finger still struggling to wipe away the blood that painted her lips.

"Why do you try so hard for my sake?" she asked suddenly.

He was injured too, she knew.

"If you would have just left me there, then--!"

A solitary finger fell on her lips, and she was quiet.

"Shall we go, Mademoiselle?"


	6. IV: Coffee

**IV.**  
_Coffee_

When he went to bed at night, she was still awake--reading alone at the common room table or wrapped in red flannel blanket in the crow's nest. When he woke up in the morning, she was already lounging on the deck, a book in one hand, and a coffee in the other.

"Good morning, Cook-san," she would smile. He wondered how she always knew it was him, even though she never looked up.

"Good morning," he would return the call, eyeing her warm beverage. For once, Sanji wished that he could be the one to prepare her morning coffee.

Sanji's wishes had an unusual way of coming true.


	7. V: Trust

**V.**  
_Trust_

He was angry. Who was this man and what did he have to do with Robin-chan?

He turned to her, eyes combing her face for answers. And for the first time, the archaeologist's expression betrayed her; he _knew_ that something was wrong--that this man had something to do with the past Robin did not speak about.

This man had hurt Robin.

He felt his legs tense as his hands balled into fists. His teeth bit down hard into the cigarette he held between his lips.

"Robin-chan..."

Words continued to spill from the newcomer's lips--all lies and false accusations. He couldn't stand to listen to it any more. His lips began to move, and the words came reflexively:

"You bastard! Don't you dare say things like that! What did Robin-chan ever do to you?"

He had not expected a response, but still the man continued to speak, delivering answers the cook didn't want to believe.

Doubt danced inside his chest, and for a moment he was not entirely sure that this man was really telling lies.

He turned and looked at her again, trying to will her to speak, to defend herself against this man's attacks.

But no words came; there was no intrepid defense. Silence filled the space between the Straw Hat Pirates and the air lingered with raw doubt.

She had kept so many secrets and this man had offered so many answers; how could he believe her?

It was Luffy's voice that finally shattered the quiet, that suddenly broke apart his fears.

"Shut up, you!" the captain shouted. "What happened in the past doesn't matter!"

And he knew that Luffy was right. Whatever mistakes she had made in the past, they weren't important. All that mattered was the Robin they knew here and now. The Robin that loved the books she read and the songs he hummed. The Robin that had shared morning coffee with him and games of chess with Chopper.

The Robin that he loved.

"I see," the man smiled. "You have already earned the trust of these people."

She had.

And when the fought finally broke out, Sanji was the first to move, his long legs propelling him towards the man with a desperate sense of urgency. When he leaped, he flew higher than he thought possible. When he kicked, his legs moved with a force unknown to him before.

No matter what had happened in her past, Sanji would protect her.


End file.
